Thursday, February 19, 2026
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COLUMN: Reporting on the Frontier tragedy

by NANCE BESTON
Staff Writer | February 19, 2026 12:45 AM

MOSES LAKE — I wasn’t born, yet, at the time of the 1996 Frontier Middle School tragedy, but I grew up in the long shadow of school violence. I remember the blue glow of the TV during Sandy Hook coverage, the volume lowered when I walked in, the hush in classrooms after every new headline. I remember lockdown drills – the click of the door, scuffed linoleum under my knees – and the crisp Montana wind when my middle school was evacuated for a bomb threat. 

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